Just between us

Chapter Ten

Toota and Bright stood outside staring up at the building of the faculty for engineering.  It had been a miracle for both of them to get in.

"Why are we here again?" Bright asked, letting out a deep breath.

"You are here to impress your family, and I'm here because you forced me to," Toota replied.

"Family... right... Ai Toota, my dear friend, I wouldn't want anyone else next to me for the next four years," Bright said giving Toota his best smile.  "Don't deny it, you want me too."

"You only want me because I'm the only one who tolerates your bullshit, and no I don't want you.  I'm here to save the rest of the world from you."

"Hey!  That's only half true, shall we go in?"

They had gone back to their usual selves.  Bright wasn't sure if he was happy about it or not.  He never confronted Toota about lying to him.  He decided it didn't matter.  If Toota didn't want to talk about it, he could respect that.  At that time Toota had been dating Night, it was the right thing to do.

Which was another thing that bothered Bright, why did Toota suddenly break up with Night?  To him Toota didn't look devastated at all.  Bright had decided that maybe Toota had been the one who broke up first.  When Bright had asked about it, Toota just shrugged it off.  He wondered if Toota was trying for a record on how many hearts he could break before graduating university.  

True to his word Toota didn't do boyfriends.  Bright himself was a little afraid of commitment.  He thought he was too young to settle down.  But at least he was on a much slower pace than Toota.

Bright had completely withdrawn from trying to address his feelings.  He admitted Toota was someone he always wanted by his side. 

Bright decided that's all he wanted, Toota's friendship.  They were young, they would meet other people.

Bright had already started networking before their first lecture.  When Toota had gone to the washroom, he decided to talk to the boys in front of him.

"Hey, do you know anything about the hazing activities?"

"Does that actually happen?" one of them asked.

"Yeah, I heard they are harsh and bully the freshmen.  I'm Bright, what's your name?"

"I'm Knott, and this is my friend Arthit," said the boy who spoke to him earlier.

Toota returned when they were having a small conversation about their favorite sports teams.

"This is my friend Toota."  Bright introduced him knowing Toota was awkward and took time to make friends.  How he managed to sleep around with strangers was beyond him.

Toota nodded at Knott and Arthit smiling lightly.

Before they could proceed with their conversation, the lecturer had finally arrived.

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"Who was that hot guy you were talking to?" Toota asked on their way back to the auditorium.

"Which hot guy?" Bright asked in a bored voice.

"You know, the dark muscular one?"

"Ai Knott?"

"Oh is that his name?  He is kind of cute, I was checking him out the entire morning," Toota said gleefully.  "Can you imagine the things those arms could do?"

Bright made a gagging motion,  "Ai Toota! we just met him!"

"What would a straight person like you know about strong men."  

"You are missing out Ai Bright."

"I'm a strong man!" Bright retorted angrily.

"Compared to a bunny?  Sure."

"Whatever... good luck trying to get on with Ai Knott.," Bright said sarcastically.  "Hey, let's go sit next to that girl over there, she looks cute.  Maybe I can get her number."

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When Night started asking more questions about Bright whenever they went out Toota knew there was something going on he didn't know.  It was clear Night had developed a liking towards Bright.  Toota broke up with him before things could get ugly, besides he had long lost any feelings he had for Night too.  Bright had taken over his heart completely. 

Toota politely told Night that Bright was completely straight.  Which was what he himself believed.  Maybe Bright was a little curious when their first kiss happened.  But after their second kiss, the one Bright supposedly didn't remember, Bright had reverted to his old flirtatious self.  Even Toota had fallen back to his routine of one night stands only policy.  It seemed to be working well for both of them.

Toota wanted to join the faculty for arts, but Bright had forced him to join engineering.  He liked Bright too much to decline.  Toota knew he would be terribly bored and lonely without Bright's constant chatter.  He didn't regret his decision when he noticed the number of male students in the faculty.

Knott was indeed his type, but he had only made that comment to annoy Bright.  Toota knew Bright didn't care who he went out with.  He liked to think Bright got jealous a tiny little bit.

When Bright had said he was a strong man, inside his head Toota completely agreed with him.  Toota had experienced Bright's strength first hand when he had trapped him on the bed.  The mere memory gave him goosebumps.  He didn't know why he kept hurting himself.  It had almost felt more like a dream than a memory, and reality had rudely woken him up.

By the end of the day Bright and Toota did end up making a couple of friends.  To his irritation Bright and the boy with the cute face, Arthit, had hit it off.  Arthit seemed to be enjoying Bright's crazy sense of humor much like Toota secretly did.  He slowly put his hand on Bright's shoulder and smiled at Arthit politely.  Toota wasn't ready to share Bright with anyone just yet.

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Very soon their little group became quite close.  Bright hadn't seemed to change much, but Toota had noticed his friendship with Arthit.  It had only led him being close to Prem, who was the opposite of Bright.  Prem was calm and studious.  He was a good friend to have in their freshman year, and  Toota liked Prem's company.  They often had meaningful conversations about subjects Bright probably didn't know existed.

"Ai Toota, if you don't mind me asking, is there something going on between you and Bright?  Because I keep getting mixed signals and I'm not sure what's right," Prem asked him.

"Ai Bright and I?  Of course not!" Toota replied.  "Why?"

"Nothing, I just felt the two of you have a very unique relationship.  Just the other day Arthit asked him to come over to his room to watch the football game.  The first thing he said was, let me inform Toota first."

Toota laughed nervously, "I think it's a habit both of us have gotten into."

He felt his face flush.  Toota hadn't realized their friendship looked intimate to others.  That piece of information made his heart soar in happiness.

It was good to know Bright still considered him important.